The Menil Collection Review

A great collection of art and admission is free!. Nice way to spend an afternoon!

Spectacular collection of art. Really wonderful, for people of all ages.
The Menil family has given more art to Houstonians, by far, than any other family. It's not even close. Thank you, Dominique Menil.

Always something going on, has many beautiful or interesting pieces. Good for walking dates.

GOD I LOVE THIS PLACE. It's intimate. You have an opportunity to really look at the art up close without a ton of people hovering around taking pictures of it. There's also really great green space nearby for a picnic and a cool gift shop across the street. Definitely a hidden gem in Houston.

Great modern day art from various artists. They have multiple buildings so you do have to go outside and go to a different buildings to see other arts. There is no photos inside of the exhibit rooms, but outside in the hallways, you can take as many pictures as you want.

I was going to only give this museum three stars, but decided to up it to four because it really is done well. The only problem for me is that that art isn't really what I like. It is quite diverse, the space is very open, but just so much of the art isn't my taste. I am not really into Rothko, and I don't "get" many of the other pieces, like a copper ball sitting on the floor or solid canvases of a single color. Other people might, and that's fine. It's just not for me. There was a really stunning Picasso, and a few not so stunning ones, some excellent Calder mobiles, some really cool South Pacific art, and a really interesting room filled with things. These I found pretty intriguing. However, only a couple of things in this museum really moved me.

I have been here multiple times and it is always a pleasure!! Visiting Houston wouldn t be complete without a trip to The Menil.

Great pieces of art. The area around it is really nice. You can just enjoy walking around the park and campus.

True one gems of Houston. One finest and varied collections not only.in Houston but also Gulf Coast. Classical, pop art, modern, and contemporary. Amazingly free. Don't forget to visit the Book Store.

A quiet and relaxing gallery with a wide variety of art. A great place to spend the afternoon.

A really great museum to check out that is outside of the standard set in the museum district. Parking is free but the lot is not enormous. Admission is free but go ahead and do the recommended donation. When you are done with the main building, go check out the Rothko Chapel just to the east. I hear there is Tai Chi by the chapel on Thursdays

Try and overlook the ultra intense security teams, and you will enjoy the rare collections of art. Sometimes the museum staff puts on a weirdly intense security show, following patrons through the exhibits. Even the MFAH doesn't behave that way but the art is world renown. (In all fairness to them, they have had some weird stuff happen by vandals to some art over the years, but, still.)

The Rothko Chapel next door is also a world class structure and exhibit, featuring the large scale, black paintings of Rothko. How did our City get so lucky??

Don't forget the Benzyntine fresco chapel, which has undergone a transformation as the interior glass chapel has been disbanded as the rare frescoes have been returned to their native home in the middle east.

The Cy Twombly tile building is also to be seen, directly behind the main campus, and the art is sure to provoke you, making your reaction the real painting. Domique knew art, and we are a blessed area to have had her. Because of her Houston has surpased France now in artists congregating and painting in the warehouse district like they did in Paris during the birth of the Modern.

The Menil Gallery (Collection) is go-to first-date gold. Free, classy-feeling, plus you're free to come and go as you please unlike dinner or a movie. The curators do a terrific job, and I find myself here at least twice a year on average. It's on my top-5 short list of Houston Things to Do With Visitors. If you've managed to live in Houston for any significant length of time without visiting the Menil Gallery (or Rothko Chapel), you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Incredible free art museum right smack dab in Montrose. Well curated and interesting pieces. Always a joy to visit.

The Menil Collection main museum building is currently closed for repairs and will only reopen on September 22, 2018. There is no information about the closure on Google Maps and I only found out about the closure when I arrived. Luckily the other buildings (e.g. Cy Twombly Gallery, Rothko Chapel, etc) are still open.

Enjoyed my time, the security looking people where helpful whenever I had a question. I went on a Friday and it wasn t too crowded. Looks like a place young adults go too. Plan on going back soon

The Menil Collection is home to many treasured works of art. Every now and then, they would showcase iconic pieces of art done by infamous artists. It's free to enter and it has an area outside where you can rent bikes and ride through downtown or simply have a picnic.

This gallery is beautiful inside and out. Well placed and chosen collections that extends down a hallway with scattered views of the oaks outside and tropical gardens inside. There's no admission fee and the staff was extremely helpful. There is also the Menil cafe and Bookstore across the street. You could go for a stroll around the area stop here for an hour or so and maybe a picnic on the grounds this is the perfect place in the middle of a scenic, historic neighborhood.

Always a great experience. Hate I missed the Basquiat collection. However, the many other exhibits were great and very well thought out.

y all lookin for a place to get your neck breathed down every second. Here s the place for you. Security in this place is god awful and unprofessional.

Nice collection of mostly surreal paintings, statues, and other artifacts.

Nicer than before. A great place for having a picnic and enjoy the beauty of the gardens.

Fantastic museum. Always free and in cute, quaint area. Enjoy picnic at park next door.

great Museum, private collection, mostly made up of surrealism and native american art(a lot of northwestern stuff if I remember correctly) main building is great, but dont forget to check out the twombly building across the street or the Rothko chapel of course

Lovely place to spend a couple of hours, big grassy area to lie down on outside the building. Near a campus and other museums and its all free. Try something different it's worth it. Just wish parking was a bit better but its not as traffic as the art museum and such. Also vendors nearby usually so grab some food and treats.

The security watched my girlfriend like hawks the entire time and it made the experience really uncomfortable. Never gotten that feeling at any art museum I ve ever been to. The labels were badly placed and tiny, and the only decent art in the entire place was the ancient stuff to the left when you first enter. The signs telling you no photos allowed were not very obvious and I got yelled at when I tried to take a pic of a suit of armor with spikes on it (is it really that big of a deal?) Contemporary art is pretentious garbage; don t waste your time here.

An absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking art museum, and that's just talking about the architecture! Each section is full of beautiful and incredible pieces of art, with no two pieces ever being the same. Truly worth a visit if you're in the area.

Can you believe with all these great art pieces, it is a free museum. We went to lunch after touring the museum at their restaurant. It was fabulous and stands tall among all our restaurants.

Beautiful museum, nice neighborhood to walk around with beautiful landscaping

Beautiful, peaceful free cultural oasis in Houston. There are always people enjoying the outside whether it is Frisbee or Tai Chi. The museum and Rothko chapel are must sees.

Man, I loved this place but the attendants followed my friend and I around the whole time.

Rotation from archives..and some very large assemblages..

The whole history of art under one roof. Great space. Wonderful atmosphere, light, collections and it is free!

Mona Hatoum exhibit stretches the mind. Congratulations to the Menil for 30 years. A fabulous gift to the city.

What a great gift to the city this place and collection are. We are lucky to have it and the fact that you can get in for free is outstanding. They have such a fantastic collection of work here, I couldn't believe it. It is so vast that much of their work can't be shown all at once so they loan items out of other museums. An absolute must see if you are interested in art.

A wide variety of works from all over the world. I found the antiquities the most interesting.

Pretty cool Art Museum. Really had a great time here viewing art, pictures, sculptures and artifacts.

Honestly one of the best museums I ve ever been to. The location itself was very pretty and the surrounding neighborhood was beautiful. The staff inside here were very helpful! They usually have 4 to 5 different sections where they display art and usually one section for a artist that rotates depending on what time you go. The only sad part was that the Rothko chapel was closed when I went and I m not too sure when it ll reopen. I would highly recommend going here!

How lucky are we to have a gallery of such a high caliber - free, too!

Eclectic temporary exhibits and an excellent surrealism collection.

Would not recommend for young children (less than 8 or so).

Best part was that it was free. It has one Picasso. The rest is modern art, much of which I could do without. There was one artist with a series of paintings, men in bowler hats, a view of the ocean obstructed by a boulder. We figured out in the end that all the paintings were related, with elements from one painting in the next. Now that was interesting and unique.

The guards act like they re guarding the tomb of Jesus Christ. There are better collections around the world that let you enjoy art work in peace. If I wanted to be harassed I would walk alone at night in downtown Houston. You can t assume all your visitors are morons who don t know how to respect art.

Nice collection, albeit a little small for my personal preferences. I love spending all day at a museum, and this collection can be seen in a few hours. Will be back when they cycle out their exhibits.

The entire Menil Collection campus is absolutely beautiful and serene. The architecture is breathtaking, and you can't beat free admission. With that being said, my boyfriend and I left this museum with a sour taste in our mouths. We both studied Art History in college, and have frequented museums around the world, including much higher profile collections such as Tate Modern and MoMA. Never in our lives have we felt more surveyed and watched while appreciating art.
The guards at this museum will literally stare you down and watch you walk around a room. You're not even allowed to photograph most of the art with your phone, for the highly pretentious reason of "preserving the contemplative atmosphere and facilitating intimate encounters with works of art." Feeling someone stare me down like I'm about to steal a painting disturbs my viewing experience much more than someone snapping a photo on their phone.
We're two white people with clearly northeast, alt-style. I can't even imagine how people of color must feel walking around this museum. I would have enjoyed this 100x more if I didn't feel like a criminal the entire time.

Great art gallery close to downtown and free entrance.

Nice park, coffe shop nearby, wonderful collection spread in different buildings around the park. Good and fun choice for a Saturday or Sunday. It is a free entrance type of museum.

I visit the Menil often. It has a top-notch collection of Surrealism art. The collection of art from Ernst and Magritte is world class, but there is much more in the warehouse than you'll see on display, except for special exhibitions. There is modern art from the Minimalists and other near-contemporary movements. The works by Leger are wonderful, but only a 2-3 are on display. Rauchenberg, Stella, etc are also on display. Every piece of art is a gem. Somewhere, hidden away, is a treasure trove of art that rotates in and out of display. This keeps the museum fresh. The shows that the Menil hosts vary in quality. The Magritte in 2014 was astounding. Sometimes, I don't "get" the very modern displays but I visit anyway. The Dan Flavin light display is off campus and very interesting to visit but is not the highlight of the museum. Neither is the Cy Twombly building. I'm not into scribbles much. I'm looking forward to the opening of the Drawing Institute. Overall, this museum is a gem in and outside of Houston. It would be a gem in Paris, London, NY, or Washington, i.e., anywhere. So, I'm proud that it's in Houston, so much so that I joined as a member, even though entry is free. Come join us!

I absolutely love this place!! I could sleep here if they'd let me! My favorite is the surrealism gallery! It's free and the hours make it convenient to visit!

It was a little chaotic tbh. Recommend avoid going on busy days if you have children. Also the information on art was hard to read/ not there OR just very hard to find.

Renzo Piano's project, natural light. Excellent private collection

This is a true gem of a museum with a superb collection. I especially enjoy the Magritte paintings and look forward to seeing the new Drawing Institute that will open with a show of Jasper Johns drawings. Well worth a visit!

I am always amazed that this is a free art collection. Always worth a visit!

There aren't too many world-class museums that are free. Houston is lucky enough to be home of some amazing museums and art. I enjoy the menil because it's a great space. You can take your time and enjoy the work at your own pace. There are different exhibits to enjoy so you can always come back and learn some thing new. Great little gem for art lovers!

Always a treat to visit Menil. They keep it fresh and interesting.

Enjoyed the Step and Screw installation, as well as the Andy Warhol pieces.

hear about it on npr. i went to see the collection. it was nice but parkins was inconvinient, and the some of the staff was rude and offputting.

The art and the atmosphere is awesome but the security guards watching u like a thief is a downer

Great art collection. Employees follow you around to make sure you don't touch anything which is annoying.

Excellent surreal collection. Thoroughly enjoyed my visit today. Hope to go again!

Really amazing art collection with several different modalities the artists use to create their work. I loved the room with handmade sculptures and masks with the full body pinhead model! The gallery was very spacious and I enjoyed how close I could get to the artwork to see all the details. The variety of art was really my favorite part of all this. Definitely worth a return trip.

As a museum geek, I enjoyed it. My first time there. My friend and I only covered one side of it. Will be back for sure.

@ The Dominique de Menil Collection, Art Gallery - Grand Opening day.

I love the new artists' exhibits.

#menilcollection #barkleyhendricks #henricartierbresson #CharlesHoward #robertmatta #arjumandmubaarak

I wasn't too fond of the actual art, the only things there when I visited were abstract and modern art pieces and those aren't too great to me

Amazing collection and also for free! We were impressed.

This gallery is beautiful inside and out. Well placed and chosen collections that extends down a hallway with scattered views of the oaks outside and tropical gardens inside. There's no admission fee and the staff was extremely helpful. There is also the Menil cafe and Bookstore across the street. You could go for a stroll around the area stop here for an hour or so and maybe a picnic on the grounds this is the perfect place in the middle of a scenic, historic neighborhood.

Very cool series of gallery spaces. Some nice contemporary exhibits as well as more classical and historic pieces in the collection.

Perfect for a place to spend the afternoon. Collection rotates and something for most. Parking can be tricky and beware the aggressive art students sketching.

Great collection and free to enter (donation suggested)

It's a trip. Must see, come here once a month, Thursday it's Free. #LearnArt